Octopath Traveler 0 seems like a recreation that shouldn’t exist. Spiritually, it’s the experimental handheld spin-off recreation of the favored Sq. Enix IP we noticed so a lot of within the late 2000s. That type of recreation finally died within the 2010s with the rise of cell gaming and the demise of devoted handhelds. When Octopath Traveler bought its first spin-off, it was within the type of Octopath Traveler: Champions of the Continent. That recreation continues to be lively, however whereas it takes a really totally different form, with the ability to comparatively match the visuals of its mainline console entry brethren, I really feel just like the experimental vitality of the moveable spin-off is alive and effectively with Octopath Traveler 0.
Octopath Traveler 0 considers itself to be a prequel to the unique recreation, particularly with it sharing the setting of the continent of Orsterra. Whereas the map relies on that from the unique recreation, and lots of characters from it present up, I feel it will be greatest to view this as an alternate timeline should you actually care in regards to the lore of the sequence. It doesn’t neatly click on into place of the unique, particularly with the unique forged all becoming a member of up with you for a full journey earlier than their very own. I feel disregarding any expectations of Octopath Traveler 0 being a bit of the grander puzzle works within the recreation’s favor. At its greatest, this seems like a delicate remake of the unique recreation with a wholly new story that I discovered way more fascinating.
This recreation adapts the primary few predominant story arcs of Champions of the Continent whereas including its personal authentic story to function connective tissue. You create a personality who lives their days within the small city of Wishvale, which is destroyed by three grasping folks searching for a particular ring. That ring chooses you, supplying you with the power and resolve to exit into the world to seek out out why the lives of your family members had been brutally ended. Alongside the way in which, you’ll collect like-minded characters and attempt to rebuild your city from the ashes.
As quickly because the prologue concludes and also you set out in your story of revenge, the world kind of opens itself to you to go anyplace you need. The one factor stopping you is your personal power, and the principle story quests will merely information you to exit and discover the world. The unique Champions of the Continent appears to be a stripped-back cell model of the Octopath expertise, whereas Octopath Traveler 0 solely ditches the unique gameplay to make this play extra in keeping with the opposite two console video games. The primary factor it retains is having two rows for battles, a back and front, however outdoors of battle, this simply seems like a traditional Octopath Traveler recreation.
Path actions aren’t as versatile as they had been in Octopath Traveler 2, but it surely is sensible that they needed to change with the pivot to a single predominant character in comparison with eight. All the recreation world is dominated by the three predominant stats: Energy, Fame, and Wealth. Folks within the overworld reply to how a lot of every of these you’ve got, which decides how efficient your path actions will likely be on them. Your protagonist can do any path motion, however everybody has about three actions you need to use on them. Inquire is constant for many, permitting you to study their backgrounds. Along with this, you may rent them to your facet as summons, purchase gadgets off them, battle them for his or her gear, or invite them to Wishvale.
Out on the earth, you’ll find different vacationers who will be a part of you in Wishvale and in battle. Octopath Traveler 0 has a mixture of new characters, Champions of the Continent characters, and cameos from the unique Octopath Traveler. By progressing by the Kindlers of the Flame quest, you may finally use the Inquire path motion to study much more about them, and even see enjoyable occasion chat moments like these from Octopath Traveler 2. I wouldn’t anticipate a lot growth from characters not from the Wishvale story, however for this model of gameplay-focused RPG, I feel the forged will get sufficient. I discovered the cameo characters to be among the least helpful characters to have round in battle, preferring the brand new forged unique to this recreation (I embody the Champions of the Continent forged on this, since most individuals will expertise them by this now as a substitute).
Having two rows in battle offers you the prospect to correctly benefit from the playable forged of round 30+. The entrance row are those you’ll give instructions to, and the again row will take every flip restoring their well being and SP. It didn’t take me lengthy to discover a solution to break the problem with all this added energy at my palms, particularly when you attain the purpose of unlocking all of your final talents, and an optimized group can begin delivering 9999 injury on surprised bosses (this was very useful through the Grasp of All endgame bosses).
What makes up for that is that eight characters becoming a member of you in battle imply you need to decide to maintaining all of them stocked and outfitted. Cash was so much tighter than earlier than, which bought me to not mainline the story and spend my time searching for elective dungeons or new cities. New treasures and new NPCs imply extra issues to promote, which suggests higher gear or a brand new type of summon. Skills are discovered within the subject, or connected to NPCs themselves, and people talents could be outfitted onto occasion members to provide them an edge in battle. The sport does try and ramp up issue to fulfill you at your new degree, but it surely offers you much more instruments to use if you wish to put the time into constructing your group correctly.
Your protagonist additionally has entry to the total job system from the opposite video games, being a jack of all trades, with the most important power being the entry to early recreation final assaults gained from clearing the Grasp quests. I’d usually use my predominant character as a solution to make up for lacking spots in my occasion line-up, permitting me to place all my consideration into group composition. All his jobs get the job finished in each doable space, however he labored nice to help characters specializing in particular elements of these jobs. I loved having him play the function of a cleric to offer generic full-line therapeutic so different characters didn’t should waste a spot taking part in that function. Finally, although, I may simply take that therapeutic talent, grasp it, and provides it to Laurana, who’s extra specialised in regen talents. This ranges out one among her weaknesses, and is the type of factor you may experiment much more with within the second half, with nearly anybody within the forged.
Dungeons play out as they do within the different mainline video games, however I feel space design is a bit too easy in Octopath Traveler 0. Whereas these video games should have maps that include hallways with small paths branching off by the character of the HD-2D model, areas really feel simplified farther from how they had been within the two prior Octopath video games. It’s not egregious, but it surely does make dungeon crawling a bit much less fulfilling in comparison with the opposite key pillars of exploration within the Octopath formulation.
Rebuilding Wishvale is fulfilling sufficient, however should you’re stepping into anticipating a posh city builder, then you’ll probably be dissatisfied. Wishvale is nice for reinforcing the themes of the overarching narrative, however mechanically, it’s merely serviceable. The constructing mechanics are expanded very slowly, actually solely correctly opening up as soon as Kindlers of the Flame concludes. Every little thing has a spot on the earth. You possibly can construct homes and fill them with NPCs you recruit on the earth to provide you passive buffs. Farms could be constructed, which will provide you with supplies to prepare dinner meals. This meals could be given to particular NPCs to affix you again on the town. Rinse and repeat. This can be a satisfying loop, however I feel it feels solely simply ok to not come off as tacked on. There are some good concepts right here, and I like the concept of customizing my very own house, however I wish to see an Octopath Traveler 3 take this idea and run with it.
The Nintendo Change 2 was my console of alternative with Octopath Traveler 0, and whereas it didn’t really feel as secure as final month’s Dragon Quest 1+2 HD-2D Remake, I feel it holds up effectively sufficient to advocate. It goals for 60 frames per second and has just some occasional dips and stuttering. I’d advocate turning off the aggressive vignette filter to permit the visuals to correctly breathe. HD-2D has come a extremely great distance, and it’s good to revisit the setting of Orsterra with higher lighting and presentation.
Octopath Traveler 0’s writing ended up being a selected spotlight to me, but it surely takes its candy time getting there. In the event you’ve spent any time round gacha recreation followers, or have even dabbled in it your self, you’ll usually hear one thing alongside the strains of “it will get actually good X quantity of hours in, after Y variety of arcs”. Since Octopath Traveler 0 was claiming to make use of the cell recreation as the inspiration of a brand new expertise, I wasn’t anticipating this recreation to recreate that baggage. Nonetheless, a 20-hour slog of a narrative whereas the sport builds as much as the “good things” is kind of what you get.
The initially accessible predominant quest strains are Kindles of the Flame (new to Octopath Traveler 0), Grasp of Fame, Grasp of Wealth, and Grasp of Energy. These Grasp quests contain you monitoring down the trio that ruined your life, having you study extra about their backstories and rise to energy. The villains felt flat regardless of their cartoonishly evil actions, not being charismatic or threatening sufficient to make the story compelling. Energy in all probability does probably the most with the story due to the facet characters, however the extra the routes give attention to the villains, the more severe they’re.
The brand new Kindlers of the Flame questline is sort of actually the most important motivator for the early third of the sport. Not solely does it require you to have interaction with exploring the world, however it should usually depart sure quest resolutions so that you can work out your self. It subtly teaches you how one can greatest have interaction with these video games, whereas supplying you with an endearing story to maintain you coming again and checking in in town. Every of the survivors you discover have an excellent quantity of trauma to work by, and there are a few moments that genuinely bought me to tear up. They arrive collectively to consolation one another, bonding nearer than they ever did earlier than and making a discovered household. Stia, Phenn, Laurana, and the remainder of the villagers ended up as in all probability a few of my favourite characters within the sequence.
Kindlers of the Flame picks up the slack so much because the narrative slowly builds as much as the Grasp of All questline that outcomes from finishing the preliminary three Grasp arcs. From my understanding, this was the final predominant quest accessible within the 1.0 model of the sport, and suitably feels prefer it has the load of a correct finale. It isn’t the finale of the whole recreation, since there’s one other story arc after, however should you’ve performed any MMOs or cell video games, you’ll perceive. Grasp of All may simply be its personal small RPG, and is the primary instance of Octopath Traveler 0’s disparate storytelling placing its greatest foot ahead. The facet characters get extra fascinating and have an lively presence within the battle, and the principle villain is a superb illustration of an virtually unreal risk of political energy that motivates you to get stronger to beat. I don’t actually wish to spoil any of it, but it surely’s a high-stakes drama that interrogates the abuse of the exact same wealth, fame, and energy that drives man to sabotage our personal progress.
Grasp of All exhibits that, at its greatest, Octopath Traveler 0 is able to pushing the storytelling of the sequence ahead to new heights. From this second, the writing began to choose up much more, virtually feeling like a wholly totally different writing group took the reins. Given how reside service video games are dealt with, that is actually doable. Writing groups both get possibilities to enhance their craft primarily based on fast suggestions from the viewers or just get swapped out with new writers. With the disjointed method cell video games inform their tales in linked however separate arcs, although, it’s arduous to not really feel like the sport additionally has among the weakest. Such a satisfying pay-off is barely doable with correct build-up, and I simply want that the unique Fame, Wealth, and Energy tales had been capable of accomplish this. That’s type of what you get by attempting to recapture the practically serialized writing model frequent from cell gacha, although.
Every little thing works right here in a vacuum, however the entire expertise doesn’t really feel as cohesive because the sensible Octopath Traveler 2. There’s a scarcity of basic polish that comes from all of those new mechanical experiments I’ve talked about. This isn’t even demise by a thousand cuts, however these cuts definitely add up over time. It by no means ruins the sport, however for every little thing I liked, there have been a variety of little issues that stood out to me. Wishvale presents nice incentives, however the mechanics of city constructing really feel half-baked. Dungeons really feel too linear and simplistic, even when the fixed battles you discover on the way in which are actually enjoyable. The story could be so compelling when it desires to be, however among the carryovers from the cell recreation will also be duds.
I’m conflicted, although. I can’t deny that this fragmented expertise is precisely what endeared me to Octopath Traveler 0. These quite a few cuts add texture, and that texture meant I simply couldn’t put the sport down. The experimental vitality discovered so usually in moveable spin-offs is precisely what I miss in trendy gaming. This feels just like the bold PSP Octopath spin-off I by no means knew I wanted. It may not be probably the most polished recreation within the sequence, but it surely packs in so many clashing parts that I can’t assist however find it irresistible. The disjointed sense of development was releasing to me, particularly as I discover myself more and more burnt out from trendy, story-heavy RPGs. Ignoring the principle plot for hours on finish to discover elements of the map the place degree suggestions exceed the occasion common to seek out treasure, or extra cities with further quests or occasion members as a reward is constantly a thrill. The sport is so usually content material with you simply doing no matter you need on the earth it offers you, and doesn’t really feel the necessity to condescend you by over-explaining itself.
The writing high quality would possibly flip-flop inconsistently, however I’m additionally glad that even the awkward starting was preserved from the unique cell recreation. The time I spent was finally rewarded with story beats that shocked me in the very best methods. Each new city is a chance to find out about swaths of NPCs, get new gear, problem folks to battles, or discover new allies. The core loop of Octopath Traveler continues to be right here, and as robust as ever. But now, as a substitute of limitless roaming, you’ve got a spot to return again to and test on on occasion. Wishvale, regardless of it not being probably the most mechanically complicated, provides a coronary heart to the expertise that actually solely shines for these prepared to decide to the total 100-hour expertise. It’s arduous to not care in regards to the dwelling you construct for your self, even when it isn’t excellent.
Regardless of its quirks and oddities, I feel Octopath Traveler 0 is a worthy entry within the sequence. It’s genuinely spectacular to take the bones of a cell recreation and switch them into such a beefy, console expertise. In the event you performed this with out ever figuring out something in regards to the recreation it was primarily based on, you probably wouldn’t even have the ability to inform. All the strengths and weaknesses of the sequence come collectively to make for an interesting experiment, and one which works greater than it doesn’t. I genuinely advocate it should you’re searching for an fascinating and lengthy RPG to dedicate your winter to. Extra Octopath Traveler is at all times an excellent factor, and this specific recreation makes a powerful case for Sq. Enix to provide their cell recreation groups the prospect to make full-on console video games once more. I’m glad that the core story of that recreation was capable of be preserved, and I hope Sq. Enix considers one other one among these conversions of its catalog of cell video games.
Model Examined: Nintendo Change 2Review Copy Offered by Sq. Enix
